J.T. Collier Memorial Leadership Scholarship

Keep McAlester Beautiful’s J.T. Collier Memorial Leadership Scholarship is now open! Click the following for the application: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1TX5UdnM-LzKhTkEzV2UiJd1mlMjM4LbhSjXw6Jj2-4s/edit?usp=sharing

For Criteria information click this one:https://docs.google.com/document/d/1nZFam-zWc2ccKKZriVVtxozVFdJ7Wk2p9ugYt_cEfz4/edit?usp=sharing

 

The  $1000 scholarship, named in honor of a founder of Pride In McAlester, commemorates Collier’s legacy as a charitable man who was dedicated to improving his community. Keep McAlester Beautiful awards the scholarship yearly.

15th Annual Volunteer Appreciation Banquet 2024

Athletic Director James Singleton received our Beautification award. To Coach Singleton’s right is Admin Assistant to Athletics, Mary Martin. To Coach’s left is Miss McAlester’s Teen, Sophie Eaton. The banquet was held February 29th, at Puterbaugh Center’s Crystal Hall.

Doug Bailey, from Choctaw Nation Recycling, accepted the award of Community Sustainability. To Bailey’s left is KMB board member, Angie Miller. To his right is Miss McAlester, Hensley Kidd.

Herman Bohnhoff, our Volunteer of the Year!

Spirit Award winner, Caleigh Tarron in the middle. She brought the Field of Honor flag display to McAlester in 2023. Caleigh is also a Presidential Volunteer Service Award Winner as well as her grandmother, Angie Miller to Caleigh’s right. Tarron and Miller had huge volunteer hours giving back.

Jagger McCabe, Outstanding Student winner. Jagger brought paper recycling to Frink School. He and his mother, Jeanie McCabe are Presidential Volunteer Service Award winners for all the volunteer hours they put in giving back to our community.

Mel Priddy, center, is the second ever recipient of the Justin Few Champion Award for 10 plus years service to KMB. Mr. Priddy logged almost 15 years with KMB.

Who is Keep McAlester Beautiful?

We are citizens, volunteers, business supporters, and partner organizations who contribute time, money, labor, and supplies to ensure that McAlester continues to fulfill its potential as a great place to live and work. We don’t have time to point fingers, we are busy rolling up our sleeves and getting to work.

Keep McAlester Beautiful (formerly Pride In McAlester) is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization with the goal of making McAlester, Oklahoma a cleaner, safer, and more beautiful place to live and work.

We have a volunteer opportunity every month, often on the second Saturday of every month. We paint structures and flagpoles, and fire hydrants, we plant flowers and trees, we pick up litter (we pick up a lot of litter!), and we are behind the big spring and wide cleanups that happen at the former National Guard Armory in April and October.

Keep McAlester Beautiful (KMB) has a monthly lunch meeting on the third Thursday at 12 noon. We currently meet in the side room at The Yardbird, 315 E. Choctaw Ave. Everyone is welcome. We talk about upcoming events and projects. Maybe you have a project you’d like to see completed!

Our board of directors meet the second Thursday of every month at 12 noon at the Fire Department Administration and Training located at 1016 E. South Ave. It too is open to the public.

You can find us on Facebook (Keep McAlester Beautiful), on Instagram (keepmcalesterbeautiful), on X or Twitter (@PrideinMac), and on TikTok (@keepmcalesterbeautiful)

What to do with a swarm of bees

Spring and summer is the time in Oklahoma that you could find yourself suddenly dealing with a swarm of bees. They may be attached to a tree limb, or your house or property.

Your first reaction may be to poison these bees with household chemicals. Please don’t. The good news is Pittsburg County has lots of beekeepers that would love to take that swarm off your hands!

Here are a couple of phone numbers to help you: Keep McAlester Beautiful, 918-424-9988 or The Pittsburg County OSU extension office, 918-423-4120. We know many beekeepers and they can safely remove your swarm. You get the added benefit of knowing you have helped the bees, not killed them.

Adopt A Block

You can volunteer to help clean an area of McAlester, say the block you live on! Team up with your family, club, church or business. There are more than 35 adopters right now in McAlester. We have pickers, gloves, vests, and trash bags to lend so you can clean your streets. There is no commitment of how much time you spend on your block. Consider doing it quarterly, or at least twice a year. We ask that you let us know when you have cleaned and take pictures so we can share. We will put up an Adopt A Block sign in your that looks similar to this…

Contact us today at kmb@keepmcalesterbeautiful.com or call 918-424-9988.

Adopt A Park

Keep McAlester Beautiful is excited to partner with the City of McAlester and the Parks and Recreation Department to launch Adopt-A-Park! Individuals, families, groups or businesses are welcome to choose one of the city’s 16 parks and public use areas. Volunteers can pick up litter, mow, weed eat, remove graffiti, report park hazards, sweep courts and pathways, pull weeds, care for the ecosystems and report illegal dumping, storm damage injured or dead animals and other hazards or help with major park restorations.

Parks available for adoption include:

Arvest Park (the newest park)

Buffalo Run Disc Golf Course

Archery Park

Central Bark Dog Park

Will Rogers Park

Leadership Park

Mullen Park

Hutchison Park

Connally Skate Park

Thunderbird Park

Jeff Lee Park

Pete Rosso Park

Hunter Park

Komar Park

Puterbaugh Park

Rotary Park

Chadick Park

email: kmb@keepmcalesterbeautiful.com today for more information! or call us, 918-424-9988

Pictured below are members of McAlester Schools Athletics cleaning their adopted park, Chadick. The athletes clean their park monthly!